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Forget the pitch, forget the AFL, this A-League final has a fine home

Victory face a tough season opener against the Reds in Adelaide. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Expert
11th May, 2015
164
2355 Reads

Five days out from an A-League grand final and football chief executives are labelling rival codes a “disgrace”. Only 30,000 fans are allowed to attend the match and the FFA are fielding complaints of ineptness. Does not sound like ideal preparation does it?

The uproar over the decision to play Australian football’s showpiece fixture at AAMI Park has stemmed from a number of areas, and at first glance it appears fairly warranted.

That the biggest game in the A-League season will be limited to a reasonably meagre crowd is disappointing to say the least. This should be the time where the Australian football community shows the rest of the country’s sporting landscape that they are a major player, and what better way than drawing a record-breaking crowd to the finale.

At least that is what some may tell you.

The reality is that the current scheduling drama is only good for the game. The AFL is being forced to talk about the game due to their alleged cooperation with Football Federation Australia in allowing them access to Etihad Stadium.

What better publicity can there be?

The most ardent Australian rules fan would now be aware it is on, with the fact shoved in their face, even if their blind devotion to a single code blocks out all surrounding noise.

FFA reportedly notified the AFL too late about changes to the grand final date from May 10 to May 17. The FFA say they told them before the AFL fixture list was confirmed, while the AFL are blaming their counterparts for giving insufficient time.

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Either way, this was all reported on back in October. It is not fresh news.

The AFL are well within their rights to refuse to budge on moving the planned fixture between the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle on Sunday, May 17. They hold priority when it comes to booking Etihad Stadium and the MCG, and given the amount of money and business they have pumped into the two venues you cannot fault them.

They cannot be expected to bend over to suit a rival code’s needs. If FFA did likewise football fans would be complaining that they had surrendered to the detriment of the game. The fault lies firmly at FFA’s feet, but it does not even matter.

AAMI Park may be small, but it is going to put on one hell of a show. It is a football-suited stadium that when full can create a buzzing atmosphere. The fans attending will all be diehards, members who have forked out for season tickets and have followed their team throughout the entire season.

There are 22,000 Melbourne Victory members and hopefully all of them manage to snare a ticket. Unfortunately for Sydney FC fans there will only be 3500 available. It is a huge shame for the members who have attended every home game and a few away games, but their club should have finished first if they wanted preference. Rules are rules, Victory get home game rights.

Sydney chief executive Tony Pignata is understandably not a happy man and has called the AFL “a disgrace” and claimed they may be scared of football’s continuing growth. Credit to the man, it is his job to stand up for the majority of Sydney FC’s 12,000 members who won’t be able to grab a ticket.

But he is wrong. The AFL are not a disgrace, they are just playing the game and taking advantage of their hardly cheap contracts.

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The decision not to negotiate with FFA may even come back to haunt them. While 30,000 pack out AAMI Park, with everyone aware that it could easily have been more than 50,000, all eyes will be checking to see how many turn up for the Dockers versus Bulldogs match.

On the other hand the A-League grand final is going to be one of the hottest tickets in Melbourne, possibly for the first time in its short history. Fans will be scrambling for a stub and thousands will pack out bars and pubs to catch the action. They will also have a chance to get Federation Square cranking in front of a big screen.

Fans can blame the AFL all they want, they can bemoan that FFA are not considering the MCG and they can lambast FFA for acting too late. But AAMI Park will produce a cracking finale.

The main problem is that the same scenario is likely to occur again unless FFA make scheduling tweaks, and continued controversy is the sign of poor management. Not all fans are willing to let this slide, which means there needs to be a solution.

There may be pressure on the AFL to be more lenient and there will most certainly be more pressure on David Gallop to finalise a solid date and stick with it. But the problems will continue while the A-League plays its finals series during the AFL and NRL seasons.

“This year there was a mix up in dates which no one has accepted responsibility for, we don’t expect that to happen again,” Gallop said.

How Gallop plans to avoid a repeat is unknown. Even more bizarre is the failure to accept responsibility. But if FFA have not been able to negotiate successfully with the AFL this year, how will it be any easier in the coming years?

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It has to be questioned whether it is all really necessary. The best solution would be to hold the A-League finals before the AFL season even kicks off, which would mean an earlier start date for Australian football.

Is it still so important for the A-League to start at a time of year when there is no other football on? Is the grand final more important or the opening weekend?

If the A-League starts while the AFL and NRL finals are running, say in early to mid-September, it would not be a disaster. Football should be at a stage where it does not have to organise its season around other codes for fear of increased competition.

The only reason a change should be initiated for finals football is because stadium rights unfortunately dictate when and where games can be held. That is a problem that will remain until FFA find some money to build their own arenas.

An earlier start would clash with some of rugby league and Australian rules’ biggest matches, but it would also mean an exclusive A-League grand final with no other distractions, which cannot be a bad thing.

It is certainly worth some thought given the troubles FFA have had in organising the 2014-15 A-League grand final.

A lot of people are going to miss out and you have to feel sorry for the hardcore fans, but that happens every day in Europe. But this could be one of the greatest modern grand finals to grace Australian football pitches, and the intimate crowd in an intimate ground will only add to the spectacle.

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